What is the symbolic meaning of the letter “Kaf,” which is the first of the mysterious letters that occur at the beginning of Surat al-Maryam 19:1?

Ruzbihan al-Baqli (d. 606 AH/1209 CE), in his Qur’anic commentary, the Brides of Elucidation of the Truths of the Qur’an (‘Ara’is al-bayan), begins his commentary on “kaf” as follows: [By the “kaf”] God (subhanahu) informs that the “kaf” indicates that God’s pre-temporal, uncreated, and post-temporal eternal being has [always] been, as God’s (ta’ala) words state, “God was” (kana Allahu). In this is an allusion to the fact that the existence of God’s Being is prior to the existence of created existence (kawn al-kawn). [Also] the allusion of the Truth (al-haqiqa) is that by means of the “kaf” [God] informs [us] about the secret of the Uncreated [non-termporal] Realm (al-qidam). By means of it, God invites the gnostics to their unmanifest dimension (ghaybubiya) in the uninhabited regious of primordial existence (al-awwaliya) and to become drowned in the oceans of uncreatedness so that they may know [though experience] by means of pre-temporal and post-temporal eternity.

I’ve gotten permission from Dr. Alan Godlas (Abdul Haqq), who is a professor at the University of Georgia for Islamic and Sufi studies, to repost his Facebook postings on Islam and Sufism. All translations are done by Abdul Haqq Godlas unless otherwise noted.